This year one of our main themes has been an introduction to the great world we live in. My goal was to gently introduce to the kids to some other cultures while at the same time teaching them some very basic world geography. I have been using a combination of Sonlight and FIAR to teach this as well as a sprinkling of some of other great books.

This year we have been going through the Sonlight P4/5 program which gives preschoolers a great introduction to our world through the use of literature. We are loving the program, and I highly recommend it. We are also big fans of the Five in a Row (FIAR) books, so we have incorporated those into our day too.

The existing P4/5 schedule is great as is. However, I have modified it slightly for our use, and I wanted to share how we are using the program. What I have done is to pull out all of the wonderful world culture stories in the Sonlight P4/5 program and grouped them by geographic region. This gives us time to fully immerse ourselves in the various cultures we are studying. So instead of skipping all around the globe, we get to spend a few weeks completely devoted to one culture/region. This gives us time to do all sorts of fun things together as a family. We might prepare and taste some traditional foods from the part of the world we are studying. Sometimes we might do a craft project together using inspiration from artists who live in that part of the world. Or, at other times, we might take a few days to learn some phrases from the language spoken in that part of the world. Basically---it gives us the time to really let all of those cultures sync in as we "read around the globe". I have also found that organizing the stories this way allows my very young children to really grasp the differences in cultures and people groups that can be found around the world. When we were jumping all around the globe, this didn't sync in as much.

In case anyone else is interested in reading around the world, I wanted to share our list of stories. You will notice that we have included a lot of other books besides those included in the Sonlight P4/5 program. Many of them are used in the Five in a Row program (another favorite of mine)...others are just good books that you can check out from your library.

How to use this study:
1. Read through the stories at your own pace. Use the sheet provided as a checklist to track your progress.
2. As you are reading, feel free to weave in some craft projects, music, language activities, recipes, or hands-on projects into your study. Do this as you have the time or your children are interested.

A NOTE ON PACING: Included in this list are 166 readings. That may seem like a huge amount, but I have found that this is a good number to fill up a typical school year of 180 days. I personally make it a goal to read about a story per day. With holidays and other interruptions, this usually works out pretty well. Some days we read more, some days less. I always suggest reading as your children are interested and going at their own pace.

General World Geography Books to Use for Reference:Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World by MaryAnn Kohl-
This is a great book to own, but most libraries will also have a copy of this that you can check out. There are lot of great projects that you can use at your discretion as you study the various cultures and countries. The projects are all rated by degree of skill...and I have found that many of the lowest rated projects are very appropriate for four and five year old children.

Another good resource to check out is some traditional music from the culture you are reading about. This is another resource that I would utilize the library for if at all possible. I highly recommend the Putumayo Presents Series of world music CDs. Another great resource is the Wee Sing Around the World CD.

Another resource is the continent song. We started off our study by learning the 7 continents on the globe. At first the kids just memorized the words to this song, however, eventually, they learned to start locating the continents on the globe. After you get the continents down, make it a goal to learn the various oceans.

Song School Latin Review

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Become Attached

Hi! I'm Cathy...aka The Attached Mama. Thanks for stopping by today. Like most mamas, I wear many hats in life. I am a wife to Doug and mother to three beautiful children. Please join us in our adventures learning and living.